Curt Doolittle

Theme: Agency

  • MORAL SPATIAL REASONING I might have been wrong about something interesting. For

    MORAL SPATIAL REASONING

    I might have been wrong about something interesting.

    For years I have understood that Europeans have superior spatial reasoning especially in the perception of the locations of others in real time. Europeans are followed by east Asians.

    But I assumed that this was a product of military or hunting selection.

    It didn’t occur to me that it is the product of morality: understanding of the intentions of others, and that hunting and fighting superiority, particularly in Europe and Asia evolved as extensions of the moral instinct.

    So does it mean that our concept of time preference should be restated in moral terms?

    We know that time preference, impulsivity and morality are correlated with social class. And that intelligence is also.

    We know that Europeans and east Asians are the least impulsive people. Asians less impulsive than Europeans.

    We know that only east Asians and europeans were able to create advanced societies and that only Europeans were able to break familial bonds.

    But are these all simply effects of greater sensitivity to and priority given to, the detection of intentions for the purpose of seizing opportunities to cooperate : morality?

    Source date (UTC): 2012-11-02 02:19:00 UTC

  • Freud Distracted Intellectual Progress As Much As Did Marx

    FREUD WAS A FOOL AND AS MUCH OF AN INTELLECTUAL DISASTER FOR MANKIND AS MARX [H]umans are driven by status signals. The purpose of status signals may in fact INCLUDE access to reproduction, but that is only one of the may uses of signals. Without signals we cannot know whom to imitate. Without those signals we literally cannot think. We cannot think without signals any more than we can perceive beyond our fingertips without numbers, counting and arithmetic. We cannot think without signals any more than we can think about the future in a division of knowledge and labor without the tools of time, money and prices. The human accounting system is status signals. Unlike the properties of the physical world, which we need numbers, measures, counting, arithmetic to sense, and unlike the economic world of our productive cooperation where we need money and prices to sense each other’s wants and needs, we need no tools to sense status signals. They are the only fine measurements we can grasp without abstract tools.

  • FREUD WAS A FOOL AND AS MUCH OF AN INTELLECTUAL DISASTER FOR MANKIND AS MARX Hum

    FREUD WAS A FOOL AND AS MUCH OF AN INTELLECTUAL DISASTER FOR MANKIND AS MARX

    Humans are driven by status signals. The purpose of status signals may in fact INCLUDE access to reproduction, but that is only one of the may uses of signals. Without signals we cannot know whom to imitate. Without those signals we literally cannot think. We cannot think without signals any more than we can perceive beyond our fingertips without numbers, counting and arithmetic. We cannot think without signals any more than we can think about the future in a division of knowledge and labor without the tools of time, money and prices.

    The human accounting system is status signals. Unlike the properties of the physical world, which we need numbers, measures, counting, arithmetic to sense, and unlike the economic world of our productive cooperation where we need money and prices to sense each other’s wants and needs, we need no tools to sense status signals. They are the only fine measurements we can grasp without abstract tools.

    Source date (UTC): 2012-10-24 06:27:00 UTC

  • LIFE LESSON: Never underestimate the degree to which serious illness affects you

    LIFE LESSON:

    Never underestimate the degree to which serious illness affects your temperament and reasoning ability. Nor the degree to which your body is attempting to communicate with you with primitive and incomprehensible signals. Nor your incredible capacity to either ignore or misunderstand them.

    I had no idea. I thought I was holding up reasonably well. In retrospect, the absurd physical and mental pain tolerance that I cherish was a debilitating liability.

    Source date (UTC): 2012-10-04 04:10:00 UTC

  • STORIES One of the best gifts that you can give to people is the gift of a story

    STORIES

    One of the best gifts that you can give to people is the gift of a story. With an interesting story, people can both obtain attention from others that they desire, and provide entertainment for others in a social circumstance.

    Sandro and I are trying to craft a story for monday. A gift for our friends in Bodrum. 🙂 I hope we are successful.

    Source date (UTC): 2012-09-29 19:53:00 UTC

  • PSYCHOLOGY Well, I”m glad we have enough empirical evidence now that we can stat

    http://righteousmind.com/largest-study-of-libertarian-psych/LIBERTARIAN PSYCHOLOGY

    Well, I”m glad we have enough empirical evidence now that we can state the obvious;

    1) Libertarians are the least emotive and most rational segment of the ideological triangle.

    2) Libertarians are the highest IQ segment of the ideological triangle.

    3) Libertarians really do put liberty first and foremost at all times.

    What Haidt doesn’t get to is this:

    4) Libertarians are the most economically literate segment of the ideological triangle.

    Source date (UTC): 2012-09-24 20:15:00 UTC

  • HOW A NERD THINKS ABOUT A WARDROBE I’ve lost something like 40 lbs, although I f

    HOW A NERD THINKS ABOUT A WARDROBE

    I’ve lost something like 40 lbs, although I feel like I’ve gained a bit back staying here in Bellevue, typing all day. So I’ve had to slowly rebuild my wardrobe over the summer so that I’m not swimming in sacks like Alice after she imbibes the Drink Me potion.

    I didn’t change the style at all. Still stayed with the jeans/jacket theme that I’ve always had, and the pretty stock Ralph Lauren for casual.

    — WARDROBE UPGRADES —

    2 Suits (Charcoal, Navy Pinstripe)

    3 Sports Jackets (2 blk, 1 blk/grn)

    12 Dress Shirts (8 white, 4 black)

    4 Smart Casual Dress Shirts (3 Blues, 1 rust)

    2 Ties (Robert Talbot) Yellow, Charcoal (Short 4)

    3 Pocket squares (short one)

    1 RL Long sleeve cotton shirt (pink)

    3 RL Polos (Black, Grey, Blue)

    1 RL Long Sleeve Polo Heavy (Green and Blue with leather)

    1 RL Long Sleeve ‘Sweatshirt’ (red)

    1 RL Long Sleeve ‘hoodie’ (Brown)

    6 Jeans (Seven for All Mankind – 4 blue, 2 grey, 1 brown)

    1 Black Dress Shoes (cole haan)

    3 Driving Shoes blk ( 2 cole haan, 1 Diesel)

    1 Running Shoes (nike free)

    1 Sweats (grey, eddie bauer)

    1 RL cargo shorts

    — HOLD OVERS —

    3 sports jackets – retailored (Abboud, RL, Custom Made)

    5 Belts 2 blk/br, 3 blk decorated, 1 RL braided Br.

    1 blk loafers (cole haan)

    1 brown loafers (santoni)

    2 smart casual city shoes (Geoxx)

    1 driving shoes (cole haan)

    1 RL heavy winter hoodie

    1 Jones NY Black Car Coat

    1 North Face ‘Fleece’

    1 (?) Rain Jacket

    2 Grey Seven jeans (really need to go)

    1 RL Swim (white)

    2 RL Shorts (cargo, white)

    2 Watches (Baum Mercier, Hamilton) (can’t find the Raymond Weil)

    3 sets cufflinks

    — STILL NEEDED —

    1 Narrow Lapel Tux

    2 pleated tux shirts

    2 watch bands (br/blk)

    1 proper raincoat

    — LOSSES —

    4 RL polos (xl/custom fit)

    20 various shirts

    15 various jeans, mostly Seven brand.

    2 Abboud tuxes (wide lapel, narrow lapel)

    6 sports jackets

    4 suits

    6 shoes

    TIPS:

    – Wash your expensive jeans inside out. That’s where most of the wear comes from.

    – Wash your clothes in cold water using Woolite or some other mild detergent unless you work with dirt and sweat for a living. Hang dry your shirts on plastic hangers. They’ll last longer. (The water at the cabin ruined my clothes. Its one of the reasons I didn’t want to live there any longer.)

    – The cleaners damage your clothes. Especially the seams. You are better off doing them at home. I see all these guys with freshly pressed clothes that are falling apart.

    – Learn how to iron. Iron in front of the TV in the morning with your coffee. I do it before the shower, and lay my clothes out for the day on the bed. I love ironing. Because it’s become part of my ritual. And because my grandmother taught me how. And it reminds me of her.

    Source date (UTC): 2012-09-21 07:18:00 UTC

  • INTELLIGENCE Practicable Intelligence is comprised of four different factors: 1)

    INTELLIGENCE

    Practicable Intelligence is comprised of four different factors:

    1) General intelligence. Which we usually aggregate under the measurement of IQ. This is the ability to identify and make use of abstractions in real time. Given enough time, random trial and error can solve any problem. Intelligence reduces the time necessary to identify a causal relation.

    2) Short Term Memory. As a rule of thumb, a concept of any complexity can be ‘experienced’ and therefore understood, if it can be constructed from a combination of memories and stimuli within a two to three second window. Short term memory. Short term memory facilitates this process so that the association engine (intuition) can be steered toward desired ends, until enough of a construct can be created to facilitate the formation of a new idea. Einstein was being serious when he said that he had just thought about the problem longer than anyone else. (this is my particular weakness)

    3) General knowledge. The more you have, the more likely it is that a pattern that you encounter will exist in your memory rather than require pure association from your brain. General knowledge must be separated into explicit versus tacit forms, and into true (correspondence with reality) and false (failure to correspond to reality) categories. Long term memory, and the ability to access it, is necessary for the accumulation of general knowledge, and the ability to retain that knowledge by forming associations that give access to that knowledge from multiple avenues.

    4) Desires and Beliefs. If you believe or desire something that does not or cannot correspond to reality, then this In my experience intelligence comes from wanting to know the answer to a problem, rather than wanting an outcome and seeking an answer suit it.

    While intelligence can be limited by any one of these factors, most correctable human intellectual failure comes not from general intelligence, a lack of short term memory, or an absence of general knowledge. But from beliefs and desires, usually instinctual, or sentimental, that do not correspond with the reality of life in a division of knowledge and labor, whose information system is the abstraction of prices, where social cues are often contrary to price information.

    The human senses are available to almost all of us. They are easily access without rational criticism. But they tell us very little about which actions we should take. That information comes from the purely abstract information of prices. And we cannot access the content of prices without rational criticism, the institution of property which allows us to plan using prices, and a significant effort expended in planning, forgoing sensory experiences, and expending effort on the promise of reward in the future.

    In our homes, pubs, coffee houses, churches, and jobs we can rely on our senses. In the market we cannot. We can only hope that by submersion in a culture within the market that our senses adapt to the patterns that emerge from the market, expressed in the behavior of others who do understand that market, and by doing so, obtain by imitation and empathy that which we cannot obtain by abstract reason and the information supplied by prices.

    For this reason, one need not be possessed of extraordinary cognitive power, short term memory, general knowledge, or even rational wants and beliefs. One only need experience and imitate the patterns of behavior of others within that market who are successful within it.

    In simple terms, this means, that traditions, morals, ethics, and habits in a homogenous society can compensate for an unequal distribution of intelligence and impulsivity.

    Source date (UTC): 2012-09-19 18:34:00 UTC

  • ENTREPRENEURSHIP Money itself gains one status. And money is made by providing o

    ENTREPRENEURSHIP

    Money itself gains one status. And money is made by providing others something that they desire, and will pay for. Too many aspiring entrepreneurs look for opportunities that are fashionable and from which they can obtain status directly from the association with the endeavor, rather than possession of wealth.

    So while opportunities lay about on the ground ready for anyone to pick up, most people search endlessly for some opportunity that inspires them, but that the market does not need because its in low demand, or is in over supply.

    I don’t care what business I am in as long as it’s not immoral in some way, and the people I would have to work with or employ are pleasant to spend time with. I literally tend to sieze what’s just in front of me, because I see the ground as absolutely littered with opportunities, all of which can be made into something with a little effort. And those opportunities either provide wealth in exchange for ones effort or they don’t. If they do, the wealth confers status, and freedom to do what one wants. And it is more likely that one will obtain wealth doing what others desire, than doing what one desires for its signaling benefits. It would not matter to me if I owned a commercial cleaning service, a garbage collection service, or any other common business, as long as it provided the returns that would allow me the freedom to enjoy what I wished.

    The market serves to provide us with wealth by serving others out of our own self interest. Prices ensure that we do not live illusions about what others desire, and how much tehy desire it. And the opportunities for entrepreneurship are everywhere.

    I’m not surprised at how many people who have worked for me have gone off to create new businesses. It’s the kind of person I’m attracted to hiring. But I’m always impressed with their ideas and achievements. And I’m more impressed with the fact that they seem to be successful.

    Just in the last few years:

    – Live Area Labs (Creative – and good work as well)

    – Tier 3 (IT/Cloud)

    – Salient 6 (Tech Services)

    – A specialty legal services business (which is fascinating) that I won’t name.

    – A financial sector startup (which is really fascinating) that I won’t name.

    And that’s just off the top of my head. I should start collecting a list.

    It’s a beautiful thing. 🙂

    Source date (UTC): 2012-09-18 10:29:00 UTC

  • The Two Sources Of Belonging

    We all want to belong to a group. Some of us less or more than others. But few of us want to be ostracized from it. We can obtain that sense of belonging through empathy if we are similar, and duty if we are not. Empathy through shared interpretation. Duty through shared action in pursuit of mutually beneficial ends. Women vary less. They sense more. At least, on average, they tend to belong through empathy. Men vary more. They sense less. They are action rather than perception oriented. Dominance is the corollary of empathy. We must learn to use our dominance against the physical world, and in defense of life and property, and not as a means of self expression or control of others. Misused empathy is just as dangerous as misused dominance. The damage we have done to the world by our supposedly charitable activities is as great as the damage we have done by war. We have lost the ancient understanding of our dual natures. To cohabitate and to cooperate politically we must master both empathy and dominance in relation to how we possess them. And in doing so create belonging by both empathy and duty.